A Whole New World
by TheSpanishInquisition97
Summary: Anthony was living life in Chicago, and feeling as if something was lacking from his normal routine. He is swept up into a world of adventure, and danger. Exotic creatures and plants as well as a whole new life for him. Will he stay in this strange land?
1. An Unwilling Transportation

**Author's Note: New Story! Yay! Tell me what you think please! P.S, This has been edited. Just so ya know.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon**

I yawned and got out of bed, rubbing sleepers from my eyes as I attempted to slip into my clothes. I like to do everything at once because it makes me feel accomplished.

I stuck a toothbrush in my mouth and tried to comb down my unruly thicket of hair. Once I looked decently presentable, I drank down a gulp of water and glanced at the mirror.

I saw the usual face, black hair and brown eyes staring back, but only when I hunched over. At six feet tall, it's hard to fit in a small, cracked mirror.

I sliced myself a piece of bread and popped it in the toaster, waiting for the ding. Once it was done, I shouldered my backpack and headed out into a blaze of sun.

I climbed the steps to the subway, which was right outside my house. I juggled with my metro card, swiped it and mumbled a greeting to someone I thought I knew.

I sat down on the hard bench and pulled out a book. I began to read, losing myself in the world. When I looked up, two trains had come and gone, and I was running late. Sighing, I stashed my book in my bag and walked to the edge of the track.

Suddenly, I was falling. I hit the ground in a heap, stunned. What had just happened? I looked up for help, but everything was going grey. A rushing noise filled my ears, and then everything stopped.

"No, no! This wasn't how this was supposed to go!" The voice sounded angry, and annoyed. The man pulled a spherical, red and white object out of the many pockets of his trench coat and looked at me apologetically.

"I'm sorry we had to meet this way, Anthony. I hope we can be great friends after we get over this incident."

There was a blinding flash of light and the man said some garbled words that sounded like "Minerva, teleport." Then, all I saw was darkness.

I blinked my eyes as I came to, and quickly shut them, because I did not like what I saw. I was soaring far above the earth, on the back of a blue and red winged dragon.

I took one peek from the side of the massive monsters back and saw the dizzying sight of clouds, so giant and fluffy that I looked like a field of icebergs, high in the sky.

I squealed and scrambled back to the center of the beast earning a snort of contempt from the giant monster. I slammed into a man, who was lying on his back, staring up into the troposphere.

Without giving me a look, he said to me, "Isn't it beautiful?" He motioned to the sky, gesturing at a flock of odd birds.

I had never seen birds that looked like them, asked, "What are those?" The weird man remained quiet before replying.

"Have you ever wanted to break out of life's cycle? To never have to do what you always do? Never go to school? Never be forced to do homework? Live your life outside what people expect of you?" I looked at him with incredulity, because this thinking mirrored what I had been thinking for years. 'Course, this isn't very uncommon.

I responded in a shaking voice, perturbed that the man had thought so similarly to me. "Yes. All the time! How did you know that I-"

The man cut me off, and rolled over on his stomach, staring right at me. I flinched, seeing the scar that ran down his temple to his mouth, a fierce prize from a bloody battle. Or shaving. One of the two. "Would you be willing to give up everything for it?"

I was taken aback by the severity of his voice, by the shrewdness, and lying underneath, the pain. I thought about it. Now that everyone thinks I'm dead, why not? Of course, it's not as easy as that. What would happen to me without my parents and family? Will I be strong enough? I came to a decision and took a breath. "Yes." That one, simple word changed everything. My life would never be the same again.

The strange man looked at me and laughed. "Well, then," He boomed. "That's great, because we're already here!" He gestured around him, but I saw nothing but the clouds. He looked and did a double take. "Oops, my bad. Salamence, take us down."

The name struck a chord in me, kindling childhood memories. _"Salamence. Where have I heard this?" _After the giant dragon took us down, however, I remembered in a flash. The rolling landscape was amazing. Flowers of enormous size and wonderful color dotted lush green hills. Beyond the hills lay a forest of mountains, tall and looming above towns nestled in the crooks of the cold and forbidding behemoths. Around the peak of each mountain was a halo of clouds, adding to the magic of the scene. Far to the right of the hill lands, lay a turquoise sea. Flocks of strange seagulls were flying low over the ocean, kicking up a spray of salty water. People were playing on the beach, but from this height, they seemed as small as ants, scurrying about.

"You want to see it closer?" the man asked suddenly.

I responded with a nod, entranced by the scene before me. I was snapped out of my state of stupor, however, when the man brought down his dragon at a terrifying speed. My father had once tried to cure my fear of heights by taking me skydiving. This hadn't worked for some reason, and only made it worse. On top of this, I developed a fear of falling. Now, I was doing both.

"**Blargh**!" I yelled, but my scream caught in my throat by the rushing onslaught of air. The adrenaline rush was astounding; my entire body felt like it was unstoppable. Unfortunately, there was nothing that I had to stop, other than the giant dragon dive-bombing the ground at a speed of 500 miles an hour. Suddenly, before I could blink, we were floating again, like nothing had happened. That was when I was hit by the most beautiful, strange and wonderful sight I had ever seen.

The hills were even more beautiful up close, taking my breath away by the green tablecloth that was spread among the hills, hugging every contour and curve. Along the side of the hills, however, came the strange part. A pair of orange horses was galloping along the side of a hill, an orange glow around them. When I looked closer, I saw there wasn't an orange glow. The two pretty horses were on **fire! **I gasped and sat up, startled.

"Horsie on fire! Horsie on fire!" I yelled, pointing frantically at the burning ponies, who were completely oblivious to their dire situation.

The scarred man rolled over and turned a lazy eye at the spectacle. He looked back at me with a sigh and said, "I guess I'm going to have to teach you, won't I?"

I was confused. "Teach me what?"

"This," he responded with a sigh and a gesture all around him. "This is the world of Pokémon."

I blinked, one, twice and then asked a simple question. "What's that?"

The man sighed, rubbing his head and saying, "Why is it that _I_ always get the newbie? Frank always gets like the masters of the video games but _**NO**_, I get the guy who lived under a rock.**" **He shook his head and prepared to explain something. Then, he stopped and grinned.

"Here, you'll learn better on your own." The man handed me a red and white ball.

He then brought out one of his and said, "Here's the basics. This is a poke ball. This contains a Pokémon. They are your friends and to be trusted and treated as such. Except a super powerful friends that can destroy your enemies and kill you easily." He paused for breath before continuing.

"Pretty much, you use one to fight by commanding it to use a specific move. Pokémon can evolve into a different Pokémon and learn new moves. I have given you an Abra. It knows Confusion, Teleport and Fire Punch. The rest, my friend, I leave to you." He brought out his ball and threw it high in the air. Out emerged, in a twinkle of stars, a blue and red Pokémon, or what I assumed was a Pokémon.

"Teleport," He said simply. The Pokémon wrapped its arms around him and vanished, along with the dragon. I began to freefall to the ground.

As I fell towards the ground, all because of the man, whom I had never been told his, I fumbled around in my pocket. My hand closed around the sphere that may or may not save my life.

"Go, whoever you are! Save me!" I screamed as loud as I could.

The ball rotated, once, twice, before popping open to reveal a floating figure, it's arms crossed.

"_Abraaaa"_ it said, before noticing my situation.

"_Braaa, bra"!_ it shouted, obviously under intense concentration. Then, its eyes turned blue, surrounding me with a blue aura that held me up, suspended in the air. I gazed around in wonder, my thoughts wandering before,

"_Want to do something fun?" _My Pokémon asked me. I recoiled, amazed.

"_Did it just talk in my head?"_ I wondered to myself, in my head.

"_Yes, yes I did." _The smart aleck Pokémon's voice resounded in my head, like an echo in an empty cave.

_"_Fine…. You_."_

"_What was that? Is that my new name? Okay. I like my name. I am You!"_

"Wait_," _I responded, surprised. "**I **can name you_?"_

"_Duh! What are you, a newbie?" _the Pokémon chortled.

"Maybe…."

"_Really? Oh, great! I want to __**adventure **__and __**explore **__and now I belong to a new guy? Just great!" _The Pokémon snorted and its concentration slipped. I plunged a few feet before the abra caught me and hauled me back up.

"Whoa, whoa whoa." I said, taken off guard by the Pokémon's resentful tone. "You can still adventure and I thought of a name for you.

"_Really? You mean it?" _The abra's slanted shut eyes were filling with tears. It suddenly gave me a hug.

"_Thank you! Thank you! What's my name going to be?"_

I thought for a moment. "Houdini. He was an amazing magician where I come from, so since you are slightly magic, that's what I'll name you. Okay?"

"_Houdini? I like the sound of it. Okay, from no on, that's my name! Anyway, we're going to have a great time in this…. Well, I _think _it's the Hoenn region! That's what my pokéinstincts tell me, at least." _The bipolar abra clapped his hands happily.

"_Off we two heroes go! An adventure awaits! Tralalaalalala!" _I groaned. This was going to be even worse than our family trip to the Grand Canyon. Days of driving to get to one place. But… that one place was a hell of a sight to see.

**Review please! I hope you liked it! NO ONE EVER EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISTION!**


	2. Forest Woes

**Disclaimer: No, don't ask.**

Well, I can say one thing. This place was not home. Houdini and I were lying down on the earth, surrounded by trees and the feeling of loneliness. My dad would call it man time if he were here, but he wasn't and I'm not sure I would want him to be. What would he think of his son, lying on the ground in the middle of a forest with a floating fox thing next to him? He'd probably scratch his head and pretend he didn't know me. I would. I mean, who wants a reject son?

I sat up and gazed around me, stunned as usual by the landscape. Trees as tall as skyscrapers surrounded me, casting monstrous shadows all around. Throughout the trees there were little flashes of light, muffled cries and growls and the rustling of leaves as figures bounded through the trees. As I listened, I noticed a slightly louder noise coming closer.

The noise was getting louder and louder until a tree was knocked down about ten feet away from our "campsite". Houdini sat straight up, startled out of his slumber by the sound of the falling tree. My little Pokémon rubbed his permanently closed eyes and yawned.

"_Ahh! Whazza prolem' man?" _The psychic type said in a sleep-smeared voice. I pointed wordlessly to the shadow that was slowly approaching.

"_I don' see anythin'. I jus' see dat giant… Oh my Arceus!" _The abra screamed out as he realized the giant monkey was lumbering towards us, heavy steps shaking the ground.

Houdini hovered in the air, panicking and flying around like he was drinking a bit too much happy juice. Only parts of his thoughts were reaching me but what I heard did help me, just not in a good way.

I heard snatches of "_ Bad… we're going to die… why this Pokémon?" _and most strangely, "_Well, at least I won't have to pay Alfonzo back." _I wondered at that last statement, but paid more attention to my more pressing matters. Such as an ape trying to destroy me.

"Slaaaa," the apelike monster moaned before lifting up a glowing hand. The giant hand, which by the way could have fit my apartment in it, smashed into the ground, a couple inches from where my feet were. I rolled over and picked up Houdini. I held him up against the might of the strange creature.

"Please, King Kong." I said, slowly, as if I were trying to entrance the giant beast. "Accept my humble offering."

Houdini twisted around, an indignant look on its perpetually tired face.

_"Or, we could defeat it like a real trainer and Pokémon should do!" _I listened to its words, echoing around my head, mixed along with large grunts of "KING!"

"Alright Houdini, have it your way." I threw him up in the air, not knowing what to do.

The psychic Pokémon drifted down to me and said,

"_You're supposed to give me a move to use. I know Confusion, Fire Punch and Teleport!" _I groaned, thinking about all of the things I was going to have to learn. It was going to be like middle school all over again.

"Houdini! Use Fire Punch!" I shouted, watching as my Pokémon gathered up its strength. He twirled around and propelled himself towards the beast, his arm erupting in fire.

_"Ouch," _muttered my heroic gladiator with a fox's nose. When he reached the monkey he kicked it in the nose with his foot, jumped in the air and screamed as he plummeted down,

"_FIRE PUNCH!" _The fiery attack connected with the King Kong look like and… did absolutely nothing.

"Slaaa?" The Pokémon cocked its head, confused.

"Slaking, sla." The monstrous monkey walked in a circle, closed its eyes and promptly nodded off to sleep. Houdini and I ran, fleeing from whatever it is deeper into the woods, which by the way, should never be recommended.

As we ran, or in Houdini's case, floated, we talked.

"Why did that attack do nothing?" I yelled, looking angrily at the fox-like Pokémon in front of me.

The animal thing rubbed its head sheepishly.

"_Well, um, you, uh see…" _It seemed to have trouble formulating a coherent sentence.

"Spit it out, man!"

"_Fine. I was just thinking that…"_

"Now!" I growled.

"_Fine. Jeez. Ok, well, my attack power is much lower than my defense, so therefore whenever I use an attacking move that doesn't use and utilize my special attacking power; the move will become weaker and less sufficient to the needs to knock out a Pokémon that is attacking us. Which is bound to happen at least one hundred times in our journey," _the Pokémon finished with a long intake of breath.

"Huh?" I asked, a confused look on my face.

The Pokémon sighed before continuing, slowly. "_Here's the easy way. Pretty much, when I use an attack that physically touches them, such as punching or kicking, that won't hurt them nearly as much than if I hurt them by using a move that _doesn't _touch them, such as confusion."_

"Oh," I said, shortly, disliking the fact that I had been shown up by a monster.

After walking _deeper_ into the scary "Petalburg Woods" we eventually decided that it was time to sleep. Houdini yawned and fell asleep right away, his pointed nose sagging into his somewhat armored chest. I lay on the sleeping bag that we had stolen from a campsite. I remembered the exciting feeling of drawing their attention, having Houdini teleport in and out with the sleeping bag and the faces on the campers when they saw me cling on to Houdini and teleport away.

I laughed quietly at the memory. I shook my head, knowing I shouldn't be laughing. It would only make it worse. Even though I tried my hardest to do the best I could in this new place, it wasn't enough. Every time I laughed at a funny memory, twenty came back from my old home and reminded me that they were real too.

Every time I heard a growl from an unidentified source, I felt uneasy for hours. Add this on top of the fact that a giant monster had just attacked us and you get a recipe for a severely shaken teenager. I didn't know up or down in this place, left or right and I had no way of figuring it out. I heaved a sigh and rolled over, counting on the fact that someday, somehow, I would figure this strange land out.

I awoke to the sounds of… things chirping and the low growls of concealed beasts that may or may not wish to consume me. Houdini was floating next to me, still asleep. I decided to play a little prank on him. I stood right next to Houdini, my face almost touching his and called out, almost purring,

_"Houdini? Houdini…"_

The little psychic type woke up and jumped backwards, his arms extended, shouting,

"_Confusion!" _I only had time to scream before a power blast of invisible energy shot me backwards and catapulted me into a tree. I smashed through the tree and landed against a rather soft boulder.

I jumped up and glared at Houdini. "What the heck was that for?" I asked, masking my anger with quiet venom.

The Pokémon was taken aback by my voice.

"_I'm sorry, I just, well, I thought that you were someone else! You startled me!"_

I glared at him once more before letting it drop.

"We should go if we want to make it to…" I trailed off before continuing.

"What are we doing again?"

Houdini sighed. "_We're going to defeat all the gyms of the Hoenn region! First, we go to Rustboro city, comprende?" _The Pokémon said slowly, like he was talking to an idiot. I rolled my eyes at his tone of voice. I picked up our few belongings and headed off towards the light streaming through the leaves, hoping that it meant that was where the exit was. I was getting tired of this forest.

It wasn't the exit. An hour into trekking and we were even more lost than before. Of course, things just had to get worse. As we walked, a dog, foaming at the mouth and with bloodshot eyes jumped out of nowhere and attacked. I was prepared to fight it but… well, it didn't work out.

"Houdini, what's that?" I asked cautiously as the growling dog-like Pokémon pushed us even farther up the tree we were currently in.

"That, my brave trainer, would be a poochyena." The response was dripping with sarcasm.

"How about we kick its butt?"

"_Fine by me." _My psychic type smirked. He cracked his knuckles and drifted slowly down the tree. He lifted up his hands in a threatening pose and looked at me.

I nodded and said, "Fire Punch!" Houdini gave me a withering stare but was forced to do it. His hand became enveloped in fire and punched the poochyena in the nose. It yelped and scrambled back, all of its bravado lost. It tucked its tail in between its legs and ran away, yelping into the depths of the forest. I scrambled down the tree to give Houdini a high five. He looked at my extended hand curiously and lightly tapped it.

"_We won! Did you see me punch that dog in the face? I was all like, 'BAM' and it was all like, 'Oh no!' and… We won!" _I laughed at the abra's enthusiasm.

We continued walking before seeing the light streaming even more brightly than before from the trees. I parted a few leaves and was blinded by the light coming in the dark, dank and desolate forest. We were out!

We walked past a flower shop (which I scoffed at) and a bridge. However, at the middle of the bridge, a man rose out of the water.

"I challenge you to a battle!" he cried.

I was startled. How the heck had this guy found me and why had he been underwater? Houdini looked at the man, shook his head, and said, "_Fanatic," _with disdain. He prepared himself for battle and readied himself, shook out his shoulders and faced the wet man. He pulled out one of the "pokeballs" which by the way, is a _very_ original name, and tossed it in the air, calling out his zigzagoon.

"Alright, Houdini. Let's finish this. I'm hungry." The man ordered his zigzagoon to use tackle. As I watched the dog-thing charge towards my Pokémon, just as quickly, it was blasted back by the force of a confusion.

As quickly as the battle had started, it was over. The man had run off, crying and we were walking through a gate with a happy face put on it and the words, "Welcome to Rustboro!" I headed straight to the center, where there was a bed and food, or so Houdini said.

As soon as I walked through the double doors I knew that I was home. I saw a woman with pink hair bustling around, setting about food, oh the food, that looked more delicious than anything my father could possibly whip up. In the back were giant book shelves, crammed with colorful books.

I walked up to the pretty woman and asked, "Can you, um, uh heal my Pokémon? That's what you do here, right?" The woman looked at me weirdly and nodded, without a word. When she returned with Houdini she handed me a plate of food, a room key and a book. I looked at the title and it read, _A Guide to All the Discovered Pokémon. _I grinned at the sight of it and retired to me bed, knowing that I had a lot of studying ahead of me.

**Thanks to all who reviewed and favorited, but please review if you haven't already! I would really appreciate it! NO ONE EXPECTS THE SPANISH INQUISITON!**


	3. The Road to Rustboro

I never liked mornings. Mornings were times for cartoons and sleep, and waffles and sleep and most importantly, reading and sleep. See, I don't know what they do in this god forsaken alternate universe, but in my land, I usually wake up at, oh about Sunday, but in this place, everyone seems to think that 6 is a better time. Saturday is apparently training day, and none of the TV's are showing sports center or my daily cartoons.

My rude awakening today consisted of no more and no less than an abra trying to jump on me, a difficult task, seeing as though he floats, a chansey yelling n my ear and a pot of cold water from a nurse who was obviously not as joyful as she would have us believe.

The day was, for lack of a better word, yellow. The sun was shining, and my head hurt so much that colors were everywhere. As my vision cleared slightly, I saw Nurse Joy standing above me, hands on her hips and a disapproving frown on her pursed lips. Houdini was floating next to her, wearing an identical expression.

_ "I was gonna fire punch ya next, but the cold water worked."_

I laughed. "With your training as it is, that wouldn't hurt me much."

"_Wanna go?" _Houdini threatened, raising his hand and letting it catch on fire.

Nurse Joy let out a squeak and said "No fighting in here, it's a place of healing, not war."

Houdini rolled his eyes but complied with the pink haired wonders demands. "_You got off lucky this time bub", _He said, pointing his paw at me. I laughed and rolled out of bed, yawning as I stretched and walked into the bathroom, yawning widely. I emerged from the bathroom soon after, teeth brushed and new clothing on. Houdini floated up to me, babbling about something that contained the words bacon and eggs. My stomach rumbled and I trudged downstairs, Houdini close behind.

The breakfast was exactly what could have been expected of a middle school cafeteria, dry, tasteless and quite possible containing rat meat. Houdini, however, considered it to be the delicacy of all delicacies and gulped down a couple servings before collapsing into a blissful heap of yellow.

"_Uhhh_," He groaned, covering a massive burp behind one gray stained paw. I laughed and pulled him up, trying to stay away from the nastiness of said breakfast. I dragged him away from the long table and walked outside into the road. It was pavement, rough and not well kept, with grass springing up in cracks along the gray slate. Cracks as wide as my finger and five feet long were commonplace, but where it wasn't cracked, it was worn smooth by countless feet and bicycle tires.

People were walking down the street, some in groups, some by themselves, but all had pokemon with them. Old, young, fat, thin, everyone had a pokemon with him or her. Some were old friends, other new, almost strangers. But all were together, walking along the road to Rustboro City. There was nothing t do but to join them.

Houdini and I joined the herd, walking next to a pair in blue and white, with bandanas over their heads. They were whispering fervently to each other, occasionally throwing wary glances behind them or to the side. I ignored them and moved on, much like when you see someone crazy in New York.

"You know Houdini, this place isn't much different than home. People live, fight, die. They just do it with magical beasts with funny, clever names and can shoot lightning bolts out their butts."

"_Well, you might as well enjoy it. Not much else to do around here except shoot lighting bolts out your rear and tell other people to do it."_

I laughed then, loud and long and sent a few tailows flying from the trees around us. A girl sauntered up to me and stuck out a hand, calm as you please. I took it carefully, ready for fight or flight. Girls are quite the risky species.

"Hi, my names Christy. What's yours?"

"Uh, Anthony." Oh me of eloquent words.

"Nice to meet you Anthony. Where are you headed this bright day?" She chirped, for all the world a small bird. She even looked the part, thin arms and skin stretched taunt over her bones.

"Um, Roxboro, I think."

"You think? What do you mean, think?"

"Well, um, uh I'm not exactly sure where I'm going. I think it said Roxboro on the sign…" I trailed off, feeling large and stupid. Like an ox, but a bit less smart.

She rolled her eyes and continued, "Well, this is the road to Rustboro, so it would seem you're on the right path, but I'm sure _you_ could get lost."

I shook my head, astonished. I've known her for what, a couple seconds and she's already insulting me. Huh, must be a new personal record.

"Well, anyway, I'm looking for someone to travel with. You interested?"

Is this how they ask people out here? Or was she serious. I kinda was thinking about soloing it, but it might be a decent idea.

"Um, well, I'm not sure I want to right now. Sorry." Might as well keep my options open.

"Oh okay. Do you have any idea how long the walk is? Maybe we could pass the time… with a battle," Her eyes glimmered evilly as she pulled out two pokeballs.

"Nah, we're kinda tired," I said glancing over to where Houdini was floating with a couple other psychics.

"Sorry, once I ask, you have to."

"Fine. But be prepared for some major butt-whooping." I never mentioned whose butt would be whooped.

I whistled and Houdini floated over, grumbling.

"_I am not a dog, and I refuse to be whistled at to be called. Unless you happen to be a lady ralts. In that case, you can whistle at me any time. But otherwise, I will never, ever…"_

"Spare me the details Houdini, we're in a fight. Mind helping out?"

"_Fine, but only because I think there may be a female watching me. Let's go," _Houdini said as he smoothed back his imaginary hair.

"Let's go, Treecko," Christy yelled, spinning.

"Houdini," I pointed in the general direction of the green lizard and gestured wordlessly. The psychic typed cracked his knuckled menacingly and sauntered towards the treecko, hands outstretched.

"Bullet seed!" Christy yelled out and pirouetted.

"Is there really a need for ballet in a pokemon battle?"

She glared at me. The spray of seeds shot towards Houdini as he simply levitated over them. He nodded at the gaping girl and equally astonished pokemon and unleashed a powerful confusion.

The treecko blew back and tumbled into a tree.

I turned to Christy. "Tell me, when did you get that treecko?"

She scuffed her feet into the ground and replied, "Twenty minutes, tops."

"Try not to throw that little guys life around, he's fragile. Look at him. He's a lot like you, fragile and…" I was cut off by a fist to the stomach. I doubled over, wheezing. It was going to be a long road to Rustboro.

We walked on, legs cramping, enveloped in the tide of migrants sweeping along, knocking people aside, and the occasional flashes of light that meant there were people battling.

I still wasn't used to this strange land, but it could be worse. There could be cannibals and little people. There could be a totalitarian government and people screaming for my blood.

There could even be smart-alecky floating fox's with superhuman psychic abilities and… oh wait.

Christy gave a shout and a tall sign rose up above us. In flashing lights it read, Welcome to Rustboro, Home of the First Gym. We had arrived.

**I apologize a thousand times for the super long wait. I had a tough time with school and stuff, so please forgive me. Read and review or I will give yu the COMFY CHAIR. Good day**


	4. The Skitty of Doom

The Skitty of Doom

**I own nothing but my clothes and mind, and especiialy not Pokemon or (briefly mentioned) Tobuscus.**

**Please leave comments, positive or negative welcome! Because you'll all review, right? ****Right?****Right?****Right?**

The gym was lit up with neon lights, flashing and blinking irritatingly. Trainers were arrayed along walls, talking feverishly as I walked in. I pushed through the glass double doors, Houdini floating beside me, bobbing up and down. The trainers immediately stiffened, dropped their conversations and scuttled to corners, faces frozen and arms stiffly held to their sides. I walked up to one, standing about three feet from a wall.

At first glance he did not seem to notice me, until I saw his gaze following my every move from the corner of his eyes. A foot away from him, I stood, pondering. I took one step to the left, and kept my eyes on the trainer, watching for any sign of movement.

"_Whatta you doin'? We can take her! Look at her, she's weak. C'mon, leggo and let's fight!" _Houdini whined, tugging on my jacket ineffectually. I shook my head and moved behind the trainer, who gritted his teeth but did not make a sound. I walked to wards the next gap between trainers, hoping I would be lucky again when I fell. As I plunged, I saw Houdini, a look of satisfaction on his face as I tumbled to the ground. The second I hit the smooth floor, a tall and barrel-chested man sprang to life, pointing at me as I lay there, groaning.

"Get up and fight! In the mountains when you're set upon by a wild camerupt, are you going to lie on the floor like a wimp! Up I say!"

"Fine, fine," I said as I struggled to my feet, helped by Houdini's psychic abilities. The man sent out a geodude, standing with his arms crossed, mimicking his pokemon's movements.

"Houdini, go, attack. Confusion." I was less focused on the battle and more focused on the concussion I might or might not have had.

The geodude used rock throw, scooping up a fist sized rock with his right arm and chucking it as hard as he could at the psychic. With a flick of his wrist, Houdini sent the rock hurtling off, smashing against a wall, next to a trainer who didn't even flinch.

"Again geodude!" the trainer yelled, thrusting his hand out. I had decided a couple days before that these people had a flair for the dramatic. A bit more than a flair, actually.

The geodude wasted no time this time around, smashing his fist into the ground with a grunt of "dude," sounding somewhat like the kids from my old school.

Houdini sidestepped the rock and attacked, floating at full speed towards the geodude and thrusting his hands out. The ground rippled up, slamming into the geodude and knocking him hard against the wall, leaving a crack and a few loose pebbles.

Houdini looked at his hands, then to me, and finally back to his hands.

"_I'm hot today!" _he exclaimed, shaking his hands out. "_Woo!"_ I laughed, shook my head and walked on, towards the high pedestal where the brown haired girl rested upon, seated in a wooden chair.

She was about two years older than me, but with a wiry strength. She looked like she could beat me up easily, but that wasn't too hard to do, as many people had demonstrated throughout the years. Her beady eyes were black and as cold as flint. She didn't look at me, stared at the floor and waited, legs crossed and arms knotted tightly on her chest.

"Ahem?" I coughed, shooting a look at the girl.

She glanced up and bounced to her feet, a childish movement that defied her hard attitude.

"Hello. My name is Roxanne, and I am the leader here at the Rustboro Gym. Since you're new, I'm going to give you a rundown of the gym system. First, you challenge each gym, and if you win you will receive a prize and the badge. Each badge will give you either a small boost is attack, defense or speed and will unlock one door to the Pokemon League. Each gym leader specializes in a different type. I specialize in rock types. Each one is strong and sturdy, just like me. Now, let us begin." She took a pokeball from her belt and pressed a button, making it triple in size.

"Woah!" I said, confused. "How'd you do that?"

"Do what?" Roxanne asked, looking equally befuddled.

"Make the ball bigger." I was beginning to feel a bit foolish.

"The button, right here." She showed me and I nodded. "Alright, let's begin. Alfred, will you referee?"

A hiker nodded and unfroze, stepping up to the podium and announcing loudly, "Let the battle between the challenger… uhh, what's your name?"

"Oh, it's Anthony."

"The challenger Anthony and the leader Roxanne, begin!"

"Go, geodude!" she exclaimed, releasing the rock.

"Houdini, get in there," I said, pointing in the general direction of the field. He floated out, hands extended and ready to attack.

"Geodude, rock tomb!" Geodude's eyes glowed blue and suddenly three rocks hurtled down, heading right towards Houdini.

"Houdini, teleport!" The rocks smashed into the ground right where Houdini had been a moment ago. He reappeared behind the geodude.

"Confusion!" I yelled, hoping that the book I had read wouldn't let me down. The psychic force slammed geodude back a few steps, but nothing more.

The geodude responded with a tackle, slamming its shoulder into Houdini and ramming his armored shoulder into the ground. A smear of blood was left on the ground as he got up, and there was more oozing from a cut above his eyebrow.

"Thunderpunch!" I yelled, and Houdini, the referee, Roxanne and even the geodude looked at me weirdly, but I knew what I had read.

"_Fine, but if we lose, it's on your hands,"_ Houdini said, staring at me.

His hand crackled with energy and he rushed forward as I watched on bated breath. This thing had to work it. It had to.

The geodude's face was frozen in a rictus of surprise and it tried to turn away, but Houdini caught it and smashed his full in the face. The rock type's head snapped back but nothing happened. Houdini's attack was turned back on his and he fell to the ground, twitching and with static running off his body. The book was wrong.

"Focus punch!" Roxanne yelled, and her geodude's fist began glowing white and it rushed towards the stunned Houdini. The geodude drove its fist into Houdini's chest, and he coughed, blood spurting from his mouth.

A flag went down and the referee said, "The battle is over. Roxanne is the winner."

Suddenly, from behind, a crunch was heard and a white light erupted in front of my eyes.

When I woke up, my head hurt like crazy, bloodstains were on the ground and another pink haired nurse was leaning over me, a weird pink thing peeking out from behind her shoulder.

"Hello sir, is everything alright?" She asked in a high, quavering voice.

"Uhhh," I groaned, rubbing my head and struggling to get to my feet. I knew I was going to have a concussion.

"Sir, we healed your pokemon, and we tried to wake you up, but it was quite, ahem, difficult."

"Okay, okay. First, what happened? Second, who are you? Did you follow me here from the last center?"

"Well, to the first question, once you lost, the, ah, trainers in the gym did their little welcome prank. Every time a new challenger loses, they take advantage of their being stunned and knock them out and bring them to the pokemon center. It's tradition. Secondly, I'm Nurse Joy, part of the family. We all look the same, but we have somewhat different attitudes. So, anyway, here's your abra. If I may suggest something, you might want to catch a new pokemon. I heard that there are some tailow on route 116. Have a nice day." And with that, she slammed the door and I was alone.

I got to my feet and released Houdini, watching him stretch and moan, saying, "_That was a nice nap. But seriously, let's go now. I'm bored and I wanna kill something_."

"Well, I heard route 116 has some nice pokemon there, we could head over there and then…"

I was interrupted when I saw a man running full tilt down the street, pushing men and women alike out of his way as he barreled down. He tripped over his own feet once and went sprawling in front of us, cursing. He looked up at me, to Houdini and then back at me. He was dressed in a green tweed jacket and slacks, all soiled and dirty from his fall. In his right hand he clutched a pokeball, done up in blue and red, and in his other hand, a sheaf of tightly held paper.

He jumped up and walked up to me, forcing Houdini and me to back away. I had seen his sort back home, and I had learned the hard way that it was better to stay away.

"Hey, you. Take this, and don't say anything about it. Keep your head down. You didn't see me, got it?"

I said nothing, shocked. The man got even closer, and grabbed a fistful of my shirt, crumpling it up and rolling around his fist as he almost lifted me off of my feet. "You hear?" His breath smelled like alcohol and licorice.

I nodded, and he ran off again, stumbling as he went. Only then did I realize that I was holding his strange red and blue pokeball and I had gotten myself embroiled in what was most likely crime. After all my mom had told me about watching out for crime in the big city, now that I was in a new world, it was different. If only Mom was here. Hands in my pocket, hiding the forbidden ball, I headed off.

The road was hard packed dirt, lined with rugged stones and men bumping into each other as they walked back and forth, trading shifts. They wore construction hats and tool belts, with white undershirts dark with sweat.

The grass was full of trainers, bustling about and swatting flies from their arms as they searched the tall, sweeping grass for any signs of movement. I walked in, and rustled around for a bit, not really knowing what to do. Then I made as much noise as I could, shuffling my feet together and even blowing into one of the pieces of grass to make a long, shrill shriek.

Of course, as soon as I did that, a cat leapt out of the grass and landed at my feet, mewling cutely. It was pink and cream, with big purple eyes that stared up at mine with a gaze that would've put my sister into fits of giggles and cute, fuzzy happiness.

With a hiss, the cute fuzzy wuzzy suddenly jumped on my neck and clawed, gouging deep into my shoulders and back. Houdini yelled and used confusion, blasting it back a few feet as I looked at the blood running into my green shirt. I turned back to the battle.

"Houdini, Fire punch!" I yelled, watching his fist explode in flame and slam into the cat's side, throwing it to one side, and singing its fur.

The pink cat struggled to its feet and launched a barrage of attacks, swiping with breathtaking speed, making Houdini swing from side to side, ducking and weaving to avoid the razor sharp claws.

"Confusion!" The blue aura rippled and thrust out, driving the pokemon back and throwing it to the ground. One more time it got up, and this time raised his head, and began to mew softly, the melodious notes wafting to Houdini slowly and seductively. Houdini's eyes widened and he backed away, flailing his arms but the voice seemed to _wrap_ him up and he drifted slowly to the ground, snoring. The pokemon seemed to grin and attacked, slashing and clawing while all the time hissing and shrieking with pleasure and fury. The claws seemed to be a blur, speeding and connecting, clawing furrows in Houdini's skin until he was covering in blood and welts.

I couldn't take it any more, and raised the ball, returning him. With no pokemon to attack the cat turned its attention on me, hissing and spitting with a maniacal look in its eye.

A couple younger trainers screamed or ran, yelling, "Someone stop that skitty!"

But I was different.

I screamed _and_ ran, wind-milling my arms until the skitty caught up to me, leapt and somehow knocked me down, despite being a fraction of my size. It sunk its teeth into my shoulder and ripped at my clothes. I decided that if I was going to die, I might as well bring out Houdini.

My groping fingers closed around the pokeball and I threw it up, and heard it explode. Next there was only a rush that sounded much like water, a squeal, a click, a cheer and a scream.

When I woke up, I was bandaged, and holding three pokeballs. Next to me was a ten year old trainer who had brought me to the center and healed my pokemon. He had also promised to fill me in on what had happened.

"So, what did happen, Rob?" I asked the trainer, who was at least a half a foot shorter than me, but had six balls n his belt and a full case of badges.

"Well, after you threw out your surskit-"

I cut him off there and asked, astonished, "What?"

The boy looked confused and rubbed his feet against the ground, making holes in the ground with his heels. "What do you mean? You did mean to take out your surskit, right?"

"Well, no. I actually didn't know, I, ah, had a surskit."

"How could you not know you had a rare pokemon like that?"

I thought back to the man running and handing me a pokeball, and thought no more of it. I was not going to get involved. "I was just kidding, I knew I had one, but what was the third?"

Well, after your surskit defeated the skitty, I took the liberty of capturing it for you. Sorry," he said sheepishly, looking at his feet.

"No, no it's okay, it's just that, the skitty, didn't seem to, um, like me very much."

"Well, yeah, but that's why you train. Make it like you a lot, and it can be strong. Anyway, I gotta go, the Elite Four are calling," he said, finding his confidence and grinning like a maniac.

He raised a pokeball and a huge, towering pokemon came out. With a word, it took to the sky, Rob on it, and soon they were out of sight.

I let out Houdini and asked, "Are you okay buddy? You got beat pretty bad."

"_Beat, when was I beaten? I won, don't you remember? I did _not_ lose to the skitty, okay?"_

I nodded and spoke no more of it. It would be pretty humiliating to be beaten by a small cat. Oh, wait, it had clawed me to pieces. I suddenly got the urge to crush the pokeball to splinters, but I repressed it. I might have some uses for it before I let it go.

I took out another pokeball and looked at it. Red and blue, and a mystery. I tapped the center, closed my eyes until I heard it open, and then opened my eyes, slowly.

A small blue bug was sitting in front of me, spindly legs crossed underneath its body. It looked much like a skeeter bug, which flitted across the water back home, leaving trails of wake in its path.

I asked Houdini, "hey, um, what does it know? Like moves. And can it, um talk?"

"_Well, yes, but not to you, not yet. She says she knows.. um, Water gun and quick attack. Hey, that could-"_

"Really help in the gym, I know. That's exactly what I was thinking. Alright, Surskit, let's see what you can do! Water gun!"

The surskit barely moved, only sat there, looking at me quietly.

"Um, hey, Water gun? Now? Chop chop?"

"_She says that she has a name, thank you very much."_

I sighed and asked, running a hand down my face, "What, what is it?"

"_Her name is Unda, and she would like you to address her as such,"_ Houdini was mimicking her voice comically, a high and pompous voice.

Unda obviously thought so as well, so she drenched him with a water gun, knocking him backwards and leaving him sputtering and coughing. I grinned and nodded.

If a crazed floating physic, a pompous bug and a demonic cat was happiness, then I was as happy as a…

**Before you all kill me, let me explain my absence. I****̶****̶****b****̶****l****̶****a****̶****m****̶****e****̶****̶****t****̶****h****̶****e****̶****̶****i****̶****n****̶****t****̶****e****̶****r****̶****w****̶****e****̶****b****̶****s****̶****!****̶ It was NaNoWriMo and school, with a two handed blow that sent me reeling and knocked out. Luckily, I had Alphinia and her story, "Enigmas: All That Glitters" to keep me able to fight back and destroy the impediments (taken directly from my ninth grade vocabulary book.) So, tell me. How many of you participated in NaNoWriMo, and how far did you get? Also, whom would you like to see in the next chapter? Leave your answer in the review sections. Feel free to PM me for ideas or comments. Review, now! Peace off! Boop!**


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